Former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald left a estate of some €86,500 mostly to family members and bequeathed his “statistical library” to his son Prof John FitzGerald, the ESRI economist.
Dr FitzGerald, who died in May 2011 aged 85, made the will in July 2009, when he had funds of “about €15,000” in his current account.
Probate was granted on Wednesday with an affidavit for Inland Revenue delivered showing the gross value of the former Fine Gael leader’s estate was €100,368 and the net value €86,528.
Dr FitzGerald appointed as executors of his will his children Mary, an artist; Mark, chief executive of Sherry FitzGerald, and John.
He estimated his assets, excluding personal possessions in his home “including a library of mainly Irish statistics”, as being worth about €100,000.
“I wish my statistical library to go to my son John, or, in default of acceptance of it by him to the Library of UCD Dublin, on condition that the university bind itself to keep up to date thereafter the Irish statistical series involved,” he wrote in his will.
Dr FitzGerald said historian Dr Gillian O’Brien should select from among his books “such items as she may wish to have”.
Shares
In the will, Dr FitzGerald recorded 14,069 shares in DCI, “perhaps worth €14,000”. He said he had 600 shares in Aerfi Group, which were formerly GPA shares, adding that their value was “unknown but not significant”.
He also recorded an option on his remaining 1,500 shares in Integrity Interactive, “which in February 2006 had a value of about €11,500”.
Dr FitzGerald also outlined “an investment of €300,00 [sic]” in the Greater European Fund as of May 31st, 2006, which he said in 2009 was worth €54,000.
He also recorded an investment of €25,000 in “Deep Value Fund I” as of July 2006, which he said had a present value of about €6,000.
Dr FitzGerald was a long-serving columnist for The Irish Times. He said his assets also comprised: “Current payments that may be due to me from the Irish Times”.
He said current payments might also be due to him from “the Greater European Fund, or from other journalism or lectures, Book Royalties and Pensions – Ministerial, Dail, UCD and Fine Gael, and travel expenses”.
He asked his children to settle his outstanding liabilities at the time of his death and gave instructions for the disposal of the remainder of his estate. Sums of money were allocated to grandchildren and others, with his daughter Mary entitled to “any residue” remaining.
